The Crown Prince's Heart Holds a Lie
Inside the warehouse at Yeomga Manor, Ouyang Qiangang sat slumped in a chair, sunk deep in thought. He had returned from the imperial palace only to find the tangled emotions stirred up by his meetings with the two princes still churning through his mind.
Doctor, why did you ask me to scan the Crown Prince's body? Are you thinking of treating his illness?
Ouyang Qiangang sighed at the question. Because it seemed a waste to let a man like that simply waste away and die.
'And how did the scan look? What did you find?'
It is epilepsy, Doctor. The scan observed abnormal electrical signals in his brain, and extensive brain damage was actively progressing.
'But Miss Sangguan told us the Crown Prince had no real trouble going about his daily life, didn't she?'
[The imperial family most likely concealed the truth, which is how Miss Sangguan came to possess false information as well. Given the current state of the Crown Prince's brain, a normal life is simply impossible.]
Qiangang's eyes sharpened. 'To what extent?'
Declining cognition and deteriorating memory, certainly — and beyond that, he is likely suffering hallucinations, visual field loss, and frequent blackouts. He is most likely suffering four or five seizures a day.
'Whoa... he didn't look like that at all when I met him earlier...'
[The Crown Prince worked tremendously hard to appear normal in your eyes, Doctor. He is a man of extraordinary willpower.]
Qiangang's heart grew heavy. Now that he thought about it, he could see how much agony the Crown Prince must have been suppressing to put on the performance he had witnessed.
"Can he be treated?"
"Yes, I can treat him."
For a moment, hope flickered across Qiangang's face. But what Akasha said next froze his expression solid.
But Doctor, the Crown Prince's illness is not simple epilepsy.
What do you mean? You just said it was epilepsy.
It was merely made to look like epilepsy on the surface. The reality is completely different.
Qiangang's face went pale. 'You're telling me someone manipulated the Crown Prince's illness so that it would look like epilepsy?'
That is correct, Doctor. This is an extremely sophisticated and meticulous crime.
Qiangang felt the hair on his arms stand on end. If what Akasha said was true, this was a catastrophe vast enough to shake the empire to its foundations.
There is a foreign object five millimeters in diameter lodged in the left atrium of the Crown Prince's heart. It has been disguised as biological tissue, but it is unmistakably an artificial device.
'In his heart?'
The device emits electromagnetic waves at a specific frequency, continuously stimulating the temporal and frontal lobes of his brain. That is what produces the symptoms so closely resembling epilepsy.
Qiangang swallowed hard. 'Is that all?'
No. What is more serious is that the device is performing a second function. Very slowly, but continuously, it is draining the Crown Prince's vitality. His frail constitution is not congenital — it is an acquired state of vital-energy exhaustion, manufactured over more than a decade.
Qiangang sat in silence for a long moment, unable to find a single word.
This was no mere power struggle between princes. It was an enormous conspiracy, unfolding with glacial patience. The horrific altar he had witnessed at Blood Spirit Island and the ravages of the plague flashed through his mind.
He drew a small jade case from his breast and opened it. Inside lay a shard of bone the size of a fingernail, wrapped in a scrap of torn cloth — a rare relic extracted from the heart of the dead Blood Spirit Human Demon.
You told me this fragment was emitting a high concentration of negative psychic energy and biological contamination wavelengths, yes?
Akasha was silent for a moment before answering.
...It is similar. To be precise, they appear to originate from the same source. But for a definitive analysis, I would need to examine the device implanted in the Crown Prince's heart directly.
Having tucked the jade box back into his robes, Qiangang's expression grew darker still.
'The Crown Prince is thirty years old. And yet, from what Miss Sangguan told me, he has been frail since the day he was born. Which means...'
It means this conspiracy began at least thirty years ago.
Ouyang Qiangang tipped his head back, stared up at the warehouse ceiling, and let out a long, slow breath.
'Anyone willing to invest that kind of time, against a target like the Crown Prince, cannot possibly be ordinary people. What in the world are they after?'
Without more data, I cannot venture a guess. But there is no doubt whatsoever that they possess extraordinary patience and formidable power.
That is only to be expected. These are people capable of reaching a Crown Prince sequestered deep within the inner palace.
Ouyang Qiangang rose from his chair and began to pace the length of the warehouse. His thoughts only grew more tangled with every step.
'If I cure the Crown Prince, the Second Prince will turn against me; if I do not, the Crown Prince dies. And if I expose this truth, the entire empire could be plunged into chaos... and then there is Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor, the Crown Prince's patron... Are they joking? The difficulty on this one is far too high...'
Doctor, we do not have much time.
If the absorption of his life force continues at its current rate, the Crown Prince will be dead within a year. And the rate of brain damage has been accelerating of late — in practical terms, he may be hard-pressed to survive even six months.
Qiangang's expression grew darker still.
Then how would I go about treating him?
We would have to remove the foreign object from his heart, stabilize the electrical signals in his brain, and then repair the damage to the brain tissue itself. But it would be an extremely dangerous procedure — delicate work performed by nanobots, with no way to predict how long it might take.
Hmm...
We must consider external dangers as well, Doctor.
'What is that supposed to mean?'
There is a strong likelihood that the forces behind the implant in the Crown Prince's heart have been monitoring his condition at regular intervals. If the signal were to cut out during treatment, we would be detected immediately.
Qiangang let out a long, slow breath. 'In that case, the moment I treat him, the forces behind this will know that I have seen through the Crown Prince's secret as well.'
That is very likely, yes. Doctor, if you resolve to treat the Crown Prince, you must also prepare yourself for a direct confrontation with whoever orchestrated this conspiracy.
Qiangang turned his gaze toward the window and murmured, half to himself. 'They told me to focus on treating Princess Myeonghwa and nothing else... I never imagined the situation would spiral into something this complicated.'
What would you like to do?
Qiangang's eyes grew deep and unreadable. 'For now, we finish Princess Myeonghwa's treatment. Once that is done, I will decide what to do about the Crown Prince.'
Understood, Doctor.
'If I move rashly now, everything could tangle into a hopeless mess. I need to draw up a careful plan first.' Letting out a long breath, he muttered on. 'Whew... all I wanted was to restore a fallen house. One simple thing. Why does the world insist on throwing so many obstacles in my path...'
Beyond the warehouse walls, the sound of the wind blowing past sounded lonelier than it had any right to.
The allotted fortnight flew past like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
Ouyang Qiangang devoted himself wholly to Princess Myeonghwa's treatment, and day by day her condition turned visibly for the better. Color crept back into her once paper-pale cheeks, and the girl who had lain abed all day, every day, could now remain awake for hours at a stretch.
The imperial household was beside itself. Hope and expectation swelled in every heart, and the word miracle echoed through the palace corridors.
Toward the end of that day's treatment, Princess Myeonghwa opened her eyes. Her gaze met Qiangang's, and he smiled back at her. The depth that had once made her eyes seem too old for her seventeen years was gone now; in its place had returned a clarity that belonged to a girl her own age.
She had surfaced into wakefulness at intervals for some time now, and so the princess recognized him at once, her lips curving into an easy smile.
"How are you feeling today, Your Highness?"
"Much... much better, I think. It has been such a long time since my head felt this clear."
Princess Myeonghwa turned her gaze toward the window. "Master, what is it like outside? Spring must be in full bloom by now."
Something tightened in Qiangang's chest — the ache of kinship between fellow sufferers. In his own first days in this world, his Nine Yin Severed Meridians had left him without even the courage to set foot outside and look upon the world.
"Once you have fully recovered, Your Highness, I will show you myself. The rear garden is full of beautiful flowers in bloom right now."
"Really? Do you promise?"
"Of course."
Her strength spent, the princess smiled faintly and closed her eyes. Leaving her to her sleep, Qiangang stepped out of Myeonghwa Palace — where the Chief Seal-Holding Grand Eunuch, Sang On, was waiting for him.
"Young Master, His Majesty summons you."
"At this very moment?"
"Indeed, he does. If you will follow me, I shall escort you."
Qiangang followed the eunuch toward the Emperor's private hall.
"This humble one, Hahu Gang, begs an audience with Your Majesty."
"You have labored hard. How fares the Princess's condition?"
"A little more time is needed for a full recovery, but she has already recovered to the point that her life is no longer in any danger."
Joy bloomed across the Changsung Emperor's face. "Then... she can truly be cured? Completely?"
"She can, Your Majesty."
"My thanks. My sincerest thanks."
While the Emperor sat for a moment, moved almost to tears, Qiangang chose his words carefully. "Your Majesty — might you ask the Grand Eunuch to withdraw for a short while? There is a grave matter I must bring to your ear."
The Emperor's gaze deepened. "Sang On. Withdraw."
"As Your Majesty commands."
Once the eunuch had withdrawn, Qiangang swept his eyes around the chamber and slowly raised one hand. An unseen force stirred around him and wrapped the entire room in its embrace — a soundproof barrier of nanobots, spread by Akasha.
The Changsung Emperor's brow twitched, almost imperceptibly. He could feel it: the air of his own private office had been severed from the world outside by something invisible, without his ever having noticed. He had experienced this once before, and yet he still could not fathom what manner of power this young physician possessed, nor plumb its depths — and the thought sent a chill crawling up his spine.
The Emperor spoke. "This grave matter of yours. What is it?"
"Your Majesty. It concerns the illness that afflicts His Highness the Crown Prince."
It was the last thing the Emperor had expected. A crack ran across the Changsung Emperor's expression.
"The Crown Prince, you say?"
"That is so."
"I heard that you met with my sons one after another. Did you discern his illness when you met the Crown Prince?"
"I did, Your Majesty."
"I had intended to arrange your meeting with the Crown Prince only after Myeonghwa was healed. So without my leave, the two of you have already set things in motion, it seems."
"I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty."
"Enough. Speak. Tell me what you found."
Qiangang's expression turned grave. "Your Majesty — do you believe the Crown Prince suffers from epilepsy?"
"I do. The court physicians and every renowned healer under heaven have said so with one voice."
Qiangang drew a long, slow breath. "Your Majesty. His Highness the Crown Prince's illness resembles epilepsy — but it is not epilepsy. And it did not arise naturally, either."
The Emperor's face hardened. "What exactly are you saying?"
"Someone is deliberately making the Crown Prince ill. And they have been doing it for a very long time — perhaps... since the day he was born."
"Preposterous!"
Enraged, the Changsung Emperor slammed his fist down on the desk and roared. Had any of his high ministers been present, the ferocity of it would have been enough to loosen their bowels on the spot. But Qiangang did not so much as flicker an eyebrow. "I could not believe it at first, either. But it is the plain truth."
The Emperor's eyes bulged. His voice came out like a blade drawn from its sheath. "Can you prove it?"